Born Ruth Lee Perry to Virginia Perry and Louis Little on June 16, 1916 in Batesville, Mississippi. Ruth’s older sister Fannie Kirkwood lived in Memphis, TN until her death in 2011 at the age of 98. She received her early education inSardis, Mississippi in a one room school which was also used as the church. In 1931 at the age of 15 she met Flannie Gipson, they married later that year and to their union were four beautiful children Archie C. Gipson (deceased 2011), Ada L. Jones (deceased2018), Blanche Gipson (died at 9 months from pneumonia) and Bertha Anderson of Memphis, TN. In 1940, Ruth moved Baltimore, MD. Later she moved to Washington, DC and started a job with Castel making sandwiches with government buildings. In 1952, she wasoffered employment with the United States Capital working as a cook in the U.S. Senate Restaurant and worked hard to become Supervisor. Ruth shared some really great stories about her experiences working in the U.S. Senate Restaurant for 32 years. In 1971,she met Norman Mitchell and they married one year later. They were married for 10 years until his death in 1982. Ruth lived in Washington, DC for 74 years until 2014 when she moved to Maryland to live with her Grand Daughter Carla and her husband Julienand then they relocated to Charlotte in 2018. Ruth received great in-home hospice care from Heartland Hospice in Maryland and Novant Health Hospice in Charlotte, NC. We are very grateful for all the hospice staff and volunteers.
Ruth lived a life full of so much love and laughter. She loved going out to eat, dancing, cross word puzzles, diet Pepsi, traveling and she made it a priority to attend family reunions hosted across the U.S. One of her favorite sayings “I’m not letting any grass grow under my feet.”
Ruth’s memories are cherished by those she loved the most her four children, 15 grandchildren Linder (deceased 1981), Audrey (deceased 2007) James Jr, (deceased 1992), Paul, Carla (Julien), Iglovia, Frances, Lenetha, Archie, Valerie (Howard), Unree, Janice (Bobby), Bertha (Tyrone), Eric (Peggy) and Jayson (JaQuita), 35 great grandchildren, 52 great great grandchildren and three great great great grandchildren, many cousins and friends.
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